Halo Infinite’s showing earlier this year was less than stellar. Graphical issues abounded, draw distance was low, pop-in was frequent, and the gameplay looked completely unrefined.

Then reports came out of staff being reshuffled and the game getting delayed indefinitely. Infinite seemed doomed for disaster.

But yesterday 343 Industries confirmed things are changing for the better.

In a lengthy blog post, several 343 employees shared updated screenshots and information about Halo Infinite.

Most importantly, they claimed Halo Infinite will be released in fall 2021. That's still a little vague, but at least we have some kind of timeline to hope for.

Next, they admitted the earlier showcase looked like crap and said they've been reworking lighting and animation system to make the characters look more lifelike, as they do in cinematics.

With those improvements, Halo Infinite may be able to awe us the way the first Halo did almost 20 years ago.

The dev team also said they’re giving players tools to track their performance in game, as well as customization for armor, maps, and multiplayer.

To try to make sure the campaign mode is satisfying, the game will not have pay to win features or loot boxes. What you see in game will very much be what you get and everything will be obtainable through gameplay.

As we've started to see with the bugs in Cyberpunk 2077, quality and first impressions in games go a long way, so it makes sense why 343 is spending more time perfecting their next title.

Let's just hope they can fix Craig too.